Editorial: Common Core, round 2

Published 8:09 pm, Monday, June 16, 2014

Photo: RUTH FREMSON

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Chrispin Alcindor, a fourth-grade student who is struggling to grasp the new requirements placed on him by Common Core, at Public School 397 in New York, March 27, 2014. Common Core focuses on critical thinking to lift achievement at low-performing schools, but if the standards are going to succeed, schools have to rise to the rigor of the new demands. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT33 less

Chrispin Alcindor, a fourth-grade student who is struggling to grasp the new requirements placed on him by Common Core, at Public School 397 in New York, March 27, 2014. Common Core focuses on critical thinking ... more

Photo: RUTH FREMSON

Editorial: Common Core, round 2

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THE ISSUE:

A new poll shows strong opinions, but not so much knowledge, about Common Core.

THE STAKES:

Of all things, we can't have a misinformed discussion about our children's education.

It's a confounding yet revealing pair of statistics: Nearly one in three upstate New Yorkers say they don't know enough about the Common Core to support or oppose it. Yet 97 percent of those same people have an opinion on it nonetheless.

That apparent contradiction, in a Times Union/Siena College Education Poll, speaks volumes about the debate over education in New York — a debate in which we seem to constantly hear calls for schools to improve, and outcries that the steps they're taking to do just that are too much too fast.

And so we have legislators pulling back on Common Core, along with evaluations and higher standards for teachers, in reaction to a public backlash against a misunderstood set of educational standards. What are we to expect of students when the grown-ups are not only arguing about curriculum, but in many cases admitting they don't know what they're talking about?

The fact remains: Schools are not adequately preparing too many students for college or careers. Half the students showing up at community colleges need remedial help. Right here in the Capital Region, GlobalFoundries, ramping up a microchip operation, is importing workers from other states and countries because there aren't enough qualified applicants here.

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Yet the resistance to raising educational standards continues, here and around the country. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that as of mid-May, more than 340 bills related to Common Core or college and career readiness standards had been introduced in 46 states. Of those, 65 would slow or revoke implementation of new standards.

For all the legislative huffing, however, most of the states that initiated Common Core have stuck with it, NCSL notes.

Right now, New York is holding off using Common Core-based tests to evaluate students, but it does plan to fully implement them and hold students accountable for learning the material and teachers for teaching it. We're encouraged by an effort, headed by SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and joined by more than 200 college and university leaders from 33 states, to promote the standards and their long-term value to students. It's a message the State Education Department needs to keep delivering as well.

But as the state prepares for what will essentially be the second rollout of Common Core, the message this time needs to include a clear dose of the realities that helped make the standards so disliked by so many people: Tougher standards are, well, tough. There probably won't be so many above-average kids. A lot of parents won't like to hear that.

But we'll all be better off with a grown-up discussion, in which the facts are on the table. We can either have an informed debate, or we can have what we have now: a lot of strong opinions about Common Core among a lot of people who don't know a lot about it.